Welcome to the Friday, July 1, Brew.
By: Douglas Kronaizl
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Legislatures took action on 159 election-related bills in June
- Entering the final stretch for candidate filing deadlines
- #FridayTrivia: How many U.S. House incumbents lost re-election on June 28?
Legislatures took action on 159 election-related bills in June
Over the past few days, we’ve been bringing you snapshots and highlights alongside the launch of our new Election Administration Legislation Tracker. This free and accessible online resource will help you quickly and easily track election-related legislation in all 50 states, including your own!
Today, let’s explore activity across the country over the last month. In June, legislatures in 19 states and the District of Columbia took action on 159 election bills, ranging from introducing a bill, holding a committee vote, or passing a measure out of a chamber. Forty-seven of those 159 bills were enacted.
Thirty-nine percent of those bills were concentrated in three states: Arizona (21), Louisiana (20), and New Jersey (21). Fifteen states’ legislatures were in session for all or part of the month.
Of the 159 bills acted upon this month, 37 involved voter registration or voter list maintenance. Thirty dealt with election audits and oversight protocols. Twenty-eight covered absentee/mail-in voting. Those were the three most common policy areas, but the chart below lists the top 10 over the past month.
Blue portions represent the number of bills sponsored by Democrats, and red portions indicate Republican-sponsored bills. The purple and gray portions cover bills with bipartisan or unspecified sponsorship, respectively. Quick note: the numbers listed here don’t add up to 159 because some bills cover multiple subjects.
By party, Democrats sponsored 39% (62) of the 159 bills acted on in June. Republicans sponsored 44% (70). Bipartisan groups sponsored 14% (22). Partisan sponsorship was not specified for the remaining 3% (5).
Want to learn more about election-related bills in your state? Use the link below to access our Election Administration Legislation Tracker! Additionally, we’re providing a weekly digest summarizing noteworthy election-related legislation, which you can sign up for here.
Entering the final stretch for candidate filing deadlines
July marks the end of the major party candidate filing process for the 2022 election cycle, with three states—Delaware, Rhode Island, and Louisiana—set to finalize their ballots by the end of the month.
Delaware’s major party filing deadline is July 12, followed by Rhode Island’s on July 15. Louisiana has two deadlines in July. For candidates qualifying by submitting signatures, the deadline is July 8. Louisiana also allows candidates to qualify by paying a filing fee, the deadline for which is July 22.
Candidates are filing for federal and state offices in Delaware and Rhode Island, both of which are holding U.S. House, state executive, and state legislative elections.
Louisiana holds most of its state-level elections in odd-numbered years. In 2022, candidates are filing for U.S. Senate and U.S. House, as well as two public service commissioner spots.
The candidate filing process kicked off last December in Texas, followed by six other states in January and February. By itself, March was the busiest month for candidate filings with 19. Taken together, there were 14 deadlines in April and May, and, in June, seven states’ filing deadlines passed.
#FridayTrivia: How many U.S. House incumbents lost re-election on June 28?
In the Thursday Brew, we brought you some highlights from this week’s election results, including those from three U.S. House primaries where incumbents—one Democrat and two Republicans—lost. We decided to look back at the last decade and found that the total number of incumbents defeated so far in 2022 is above the overall decade average.
How many U.S. House incumbents lost in primaries, on average, between 2012 and 2020?